Spent the Day at Columbia Yesterday

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Hi everybody!

Just wanted to share some news pertaining to my Mrs. She has been feeling crappy for awhile - tired, out of breath, pressure on the chest, panic attacks, etc. We've been all thinking, "not again"! How could both of us be screwed up at 41??? Well after some heavy duty testing we went to Columbia yesterday and here's what we found out:

She does not have heart disease. She has Mitral Valve Prolapse but we've known about that and its minor. What else did they find while running that catheter through there? A congenital heart defect, basically a hole, that's been there since birth. Nobody knows why its causing her to feel discomfort now, although maybe its grown bigger or perhaps the Mitral Valve is a little bit leakier and the combination is causing symptoms.

Anyway, they have an innovative way to treat it - first, a cardiac MRI which will determine exactly the size and location of the breach, and then they will go back in with the catheter and install a patch in there over the hole!!! There is only a very, very small chance, so I'm told, that she'd need anything more severe than that. So its a Godsend, although she has a hard time believing it right now as she's feeling like crap from the incision and all that...

Anyway, just thought I'd let everyone know. If you have a family member and they've been aware of a hole in the heart since birth (it happens more often than you think) but the Drs have said to wait until they get symptoms to deal with it, perhaps its time to think again. Now that they can repair these things without open heart surgery and with only an overnight stay in the hospital its a good idea, so I'm told, to deal with these things now before they get worse...

Just FYI...
 
Pete

Our prayers remain with you and your family; as you already know a positive mental attitude is the key to overcoming this issue.

We will keep a good thought for you and yours.
 
Pete,

You are all in our thoughts and prayers. God's speed for the best outcome in this.

It sounds like a very un-evasive repair may work. While not good news overall, not having to endure a full blown open heart is a god send.

You may remember that my son (now a horse of a 6 year old) was born with a congenial heart defect called Tetrology of Felot. Is the same thing? It was a defective valve and a hole between the two bottom chambers of the heart. He underwent open heart surgery at 5 mos of age to repair which went excellent. I hope that this is not necessary for Eileen.

Please keep us posted!
 
Pete, hate to hear the news, but praying the news will only get better. Keep us posted.
 
Pete my brother suffered a stroke at the hands VSD. It was very mild in that he lost all ability to communicate or function for about 15 minutes. Otherwise he's fine. When he was born they thought he was an RH baby he was so blue. He always had to be next to the window in the car, and he would sleep next to air conditioners when he could.
So the stroke sent him in, and they used a saline bubble test (via catheter) to see that he had a huge hole between the ventricles. You see the lungs being the first place the blood goes, filter out clots. The hole allowed a clot to go directly to the brain without passing through the lungs.
He had the 'dual umbrellas' installed via catheter. He said it was the most surreal experience he ever went through.
By the way he climbed Denali with that hole in his heart. It still amazes us all..
 
Pete,

Modern medicine is a great thing, especially in the area of cardiac medicine. I know it's hard at times, but have confidence. We already know you have faith.
Thoughts and prayers are with you and the admiral.
 
Glad this looks like it's figured out and can be fixed, Pete!

Neighbor's son had the "Hole" issue [maybe in a different place] but they had to dig in to fix it, not minimally invasive like you seem to be looking at now.

Lord willing they'll fix it just like you described.
 
Good luck to her, Pete - wishing you both all the best.
 
See, all this time I thought she had a hole in her head for marrying you...not a hole in her heart!!

Glad to hear it is fixable, good luck with the procedure, hang in there, I'm sure it will all turn out OK.
 
"See, all this time I thought she had a hole in her head for marrying you...not a hole in her heart!!"

LOL- sounds to me she's got both...

Thanks for all the good wishes, guys!!!
 
I have heard of such a procedure with regard specifically to catheter based fixes to the foramen ovale. Not sure if that is it or not. The foramen ovale is a fairly common hole between the heart that is open when you are in the womb and closes after birth. In about a third of the population, it never fully closes. For most, it is never noticed. For a tiny minority, it is a big deal. I know about this from my past hobby of technical diving. Having an open foramen ovale is a contraindication to diving, and has been implicated in some serious accidents, and wouldn't you know it... When I took a cerebral hit before quitting diving and ended up in the chamber for a week, it was suspect for me, even though I had been tested and "cleared" for it. At the time, it was a pretty serious thing to have fixed and even without a new test to attempt to diagnose such a thing I had a number of physician friends who advised me not to consider. Always amazes me how things change so rapidly.

Science and medicine is pretty cool. I almost wish I had pursued a career, but it never appealed to me when I was younger. It's really pretty simple. You shove a tube up a large vein into the heart. You sprinkle some magic pixie dust over the area you want to fix through the catheter and because there are people in this world much smarter than me, it sticks where you put it. Your body then tries to attack the invading pixie dust and covers the stuff, patching the hole in the process. Really cool.

Who knows....maybe some day. For me, it was easier to just take up boating more seriously instead.

They say the worst part of it is your leg where they put the catheter in. You want to take care of that spot until it fully heals. No messin around with it. Otherwise, they make this stuff routine. Just be glad were not in Canada. I'm guessing she simply ran across a picture of you in your socks and it suddenly exacerbated the problem.

I'm sure everything will be fine. Try not to let it worry you too much. I'm 39, so not nearly as elderly as you and your wife at 41, but some day I'll be that old too, God willing!

But seriously, everything will be fine.

bp
 
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